Drop everything and make sure you’re in Times Square tonight at 8pm ET. Such was the message that boomed into my ear, just moments ago and frankly, I’m still reeling. After all, how often does one get a four minute phone call from space, no less?? The caller was Cirque du Soleil Founder, Guy Laliberte, who wanted to make sure that I  - and five thousand of my closest NY friends - are on-site tonight when Shakira does a surprise free performance as Cirque du Soleil takes over all of the screens in Times Square to broadcast the LIVE Moving Earth and Stars for Water Worldcast event.

Could one live global web-cast change the way we think about water issues? Cirque du Soleil and  celebrities like Shakira, U2, Al Gore, Selma Hayek and a constellation of other news makers and Nobel Prize laureates in 14 cities around the world are banking on making a difference via the live webcast on onedrop.org. More than just a celebrity-driven multi-million dollar world event, tonight’s amazing performance is part of Laliberte’s ‘Poetic Mission in Space’ that I wrote about in HuffingtonPost last June.

Under the theme Moving Stars and Earth for Water, the Poetic Social Mission will raise awareness about the issues of water in the world today from a variety of perspectives, including those of citizen journalists, bloggers and the twitter community.

What they all have in common is a concern regarding access to water and a desire to illustrate this in their own distinctive way.

Tonight’s Live Webcast:

Be Part of History - join me and all our Twitter friends in Times Square for the Live show. Share the word via twitter and don’t miss the live broadcast event on www.onedrop.org October 9, 2009 at 8:00 pm. EDT.

Juliette Powell is an author, entrepreneur and integrated media specialist. Her first book: 33 Million People in the Room (Financial Times Press, 2009) builds on her work as co-founder and COO of the Gathering Think Tank Inc., an innovation forum at the intersection of integrated media, business, innovation and technology. A popular key note speaker and commentator, connect with Juliette directly at juliettepowell.com and Facebook.

In my most recent HuffingtonPost story, I wrote about Cirque du Soleil founder, Guy Laliberte’s upcoming social mission into space.

Thanks to several million dollars and a few friends in the right places, Laliberte has secured a much-envied spot on Expedition 21 to the International Space Station, scheduled to launch September 30^th, 2009. Beyond the financial capital necessary to purchase a seat and the grueling astronaut training involved, Laliberte plans to leverage the exposure to amplify his social and cultural capital and thus raise awareness around the global water crisis.

Laliberte is a great example of an entrepreneur who, over the past 25 years of building Cirque du Soleil into a privately held multinational, has surrounded himself with the right people (social capital) and has continually added value to his community (cultural capital) which resulted in enough financial capital to last most people (let’s be honest - most countries) several lifetimes.

So how does one get to a point where they can afford to both make their childhood dreams come true AND use that dream to make a difference in the world?

We often attribute it to the powerful or the lucky, the rich or the famous – the seemingly magical ability to persuade and influence other people to help us build our businesses and even to make our dreams come true.

Although we don’t always realize it, all of us – from managers to journalists, entrepreneurs to activists – regularly use unacknowledged skills to build social and cultural capital. We’re just not always aware of it. Networking skills can be used to influence and sway people in all areas of our lives and we can often see the repercussions of our actions, after the fact. The more aware of how exactly we influence others and why, the better we can shape the nature of that influence. The transparent world of online social networking only adds a new layer of depth to the capabilities and possibilities of building up and maintaining relationships in an interconnected world.

There is much to be garnered in learning by example and with that in mind, this blog sets out to find stories of people and companies successfully using social networking for business. The idea is to share commonalities from which we can deduce the basis of social networking success in the ever increasingly networked public sphere.

Key among these is the:

• simultaneous use of online and offline networking skill sets
• ongoing interaction within your community
• willingness to co-create with that community
• sound understanding of how to create meaningful social currency
• passionate dedication to authentic communication.

It goes without saying, basic networking skills like personalized attention and follow up, when combined with social networking technology, can increase your reach exponentially.

To find out how you can use your social and cultural capital (and your social networking skills) to help with Laliberte’s upcoming space mission around the global water crisis, visit onedrop.org.

Juliette Powell is an entrepreneur, digital media consultant and author of 33 Million People in the Room (Financial Times Press, 2009), a book about social networking for business, inspired by Guy Laliberte. Powell is also co-founder of the Gathering Think Tank Inc., an innovation forum at the intersection of media, business, advertising and technology. You can connect with her on Twitter and Facebook.